WARNING: Some cursing in this chapter.

A week passed and Lucas and Morgan were getting closer and closer. Annette was certain that Morgan liked Lucas back, but Lucas refused to accept that possibility. Monday, they walked home together and Tuesday they decided to do their history project together despite the face that they weren't in the same class, and Wednesday and Thursday they worked together after school even though the project wasn't due for two weeks and they were both procrastinators.

"Do you like my cousin?" Annette asked Morgan over the phone Thursday night; they'd become fast friends. It amused Annette how much they now trusted each other, and she didn't even know her new friend's last name.

"You're not gonna tell him, are you?" Morgan confirmed Annette's suspicion.

"Don't worry." Annette said, because she couldn't say she wouldn't tell Lucas without lying.

"He's nice and compassionate and caring and kind and funny and smart…" Morgan's voice was dreamy as she listed her crush's attributes.

"Yeah," Morgan said. "Right." As soon as she hung up, she dialed her cousin's number.

"Lucas, ask Morgan out."

"Annette, stop." He groaned. "She doesn't like me. That's it."

"No, she just told me she does!"

"You—you're serious?" She could practically hear him smiling.

"Yes. So you gonna ask her out or what?"

"Yeah." He grinned. "What should I do?" She had to laugh to at him.

"Invite her family over for dinner tomorrow. That way she can meet your dad like she wants to, and all the parents can meet and Aunt Dana won't be able to use the "I don't know her parents" excuse when you wanna go out." She said, knowing full well how over protective her aunt was.

"Yeah, good idea. Hold on." Annette heard Lucas, walking, and knew he was going to talk to Mark.

"Dad, can a friend and her family come for dinner tomorrow? She's into film and really wants to meet you." He asked.

"Sure, but tomorrow's Friday. If you want to have them over when the whole family's here, that's fine with me." She heard Mark answer. Afraid of losing his nerve, he agreed on the following day.

"He said yes, I'll call you later." Lucas told Annette and hung up. Sure enough, Annette's phone rang about a half hour later, but this time it was Morgan.

"Lucas invited my family over for dinner tomorrow."

"And are you going?" Annette acted as if the invitation hadn't been her idea.

"Yeah, my parents agreed." She said.

"Cool, cool." Annette said happily. Her matchmaking skills were doing well.

"He said there'd be a lot of people there." Morgan told Annette. "Do you know who?"

"Me, my parents, Lucas's parents and siblings, Collins and our aunts and their son."

"Oh, just your family then?" She asked.

"Yep, one big happy family." She joked.

"Cool. Well, I gotta go." Morgan sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye!" Annette said cheerfully.

"Morgan's coming to dinner tomorrow." Annette proudly announced to her parents, who were snuggled together on the couch watching TV.

"That chick that Lucas likes?" Roger asked.

"And who likes Lucas." Annette nodded.

"Sweet!" Roger grinned.

"Wait, Lucas has a girlfriend?!" Mimi asked.

"Not yet." Annette said, sitting next to her.

"Jeez, Mimi, get with the program!" Roger joked.

"Shut up." Mimi said smacking him lightly, causing Roger to pout. Mimi rolled her eyes and kissed him.

"Better?"

"Considerably." Roger smiled, causing Mimi to smile as well. She snuggled in closer to her husband, who graciously held her tight.

The following day at school started as a normal day for Annette. Even happy, since she was hoping that by the end of the night, Lucas and Morgan would be officially together. It was an easy day with all easy classes. She went to her first class, Drama, and did a really good job on her scene. In health she aced a test and in PE, though she hated the class, they played basketball all period. She was walking home from school, (Collins had a meeting) when it happened.

"Davis." Travis stepped in front of her.

"This gets old." Annette said. "It's been two years. I dunno what your problem is, but come off it." But Travis wasn't being his usual malicious self. He looked scary, murderous, and Annette subconsciously took a step back. He had a black eye and a cut lip, undoubtedly he'd picked a fight with the wrong person. He took a stop towards her, then another.

"I got suspended." His voice was low, deadly. "When I refused to take those detentions, she suspended me." His voice was growing colder by the word and for the first time since the whole thing started two years before, Annette was scared of Travis McMullen. "My dad wasn't happy about that." There was a look of hatred in his eyes. Hatred, coldness, and something else she couldn't name. He practically spat the word "dad" but Annette could barely comprehend what he was talking about. Why was he telling her about his father? She looked to the left, to the right, ready to run, but Travis caught on to her intentions.

"You're not going anywhere, Davis." His voice was even lower, even deadlier, even colder. Even scarier. He took another step toward her so they were barely inches apart; and before Annette had any notion of what was going on, he raised a hand and slapped her hard across the face. She was frozen to the spot. His expression changed; his eyes were wild, unconnected to reality. Annette barely heard footsteps behind them as Travis pushed her against a building wall. As if in slow motion, Annette only just saw Travis raise his fist before he was hauled off her. She caught the words "son of a bitch" and "I'll fuckin' kill you" from vaguely familiar voices, but she didn't see who or what was going on. She was looking straight ahead, seeing nothing at all except Travis's raised fist, and his eyes. What was that third thing she'd seen in them?

"Annette!" Jeremy was shaking Annette, scared that she wasn't okay.

"I'm good." She snapped back into reality.

"Did that mother fucker hurt you too bad?" It was her other friend, Michael. Both her friends' faces were set in a cold glare. She was thankful for friends who cared so much.

"Here." Jeremy said softly before she could answer, handing her a small towel he always carried around to wipe off sweat when he had football practice. "It's clean." He smiled when she looked at him confused.

"What for?" Annette asked him.

"You're…bleeding." Jeremy told her; and she was suddenly aware of a vague sting in her cheek.

"He was wearing a ring." Michael told her. "It must have cut you." They began to walk home in silence.

"What happened?" Michael finally said.

"I…I dunno." It was the truth. Silence fell upon them once more. They soon arrived at Annette's house.

"You're okay?" Jeremy asked, not too keen on the idea of leaving her alone.

"Fine." She smiled at him. "Thanks for…well, everything." They each gave her a hug before departing. Annette didn't do anything at all. She went to the couch and just fell asleep. She hadn't wiped the blood off her face and it remained there over a forming bruise, as she still hadn't grasped what had happened.

It was seven o'clock when Roger walked into his house.

"Annette?" He called. He had gone grocery shopping and needed some help with the bags. When no response was given, he called again, but still, there was no answer. He walked into the living room and smiled slightly at his sleeping daughter. He decided not to wake her; he'd get the bags himself. Just as he turned back around, he spotted red on his daughter's face. He turned back to her and realized that she had a huge bruise on her cheek and there was dry blood all over it. It looked much worse than it was. Though it was just one cut, Annette had fallen asleep on it and smeared it, causing a scene that now horrified Roger. He staggered back a bit before composing himself. He shook his daughter awake.

"Hi, Dad." She muttered groggily.

"Annette," Roger tried to stay calm. "What happened to your face? His voice was a hoarse whisper." Annette touched her face and winced when it stung. It all came flooding back and she finally understood exactly what had happened. Travis had hit her. No one had ever hit her before.

"I got hit by the ball in PE." She muttered, feeling horrible. She never lied to Roger, never having the necessity to do so; but she knew that if she told him he'd go crazy, and she didn't want to cause him any stress.

"There's blood everywhere!"

"I forgot to wash it off. I got really tired and fell asleep on it. I guess it smeared." That part was true. Roger looked at her skeptically. As if luck was in her favor, the house phone rang, Roger got up slowly, never taking his eyes off Annette until he walking into the kitchen.

"Hello?" He asked warily, putting the phone to his ear.

"Hi, it's Michael. Annette's not picking up her cell. Is she okay?" He paused before asking the next question. "How's her…face? It didn't look too good…" Roger remembered that Annette had told him earlier in the year, that none of her friends were in her PE class. Though she'd made friends since then, and Michael and Annette had been friends for years, it meant Michael couldn't have seen it happen.

"You saw what happened?" Roger asked afraid of the answer.

"Uh…yeah." Michael sounded uncomfortable. "It was Jeremy and I that got the guy off her." Roger's voice caught in his throat and he could barely utter the words.

"Michael…what happened?!" Michael told him that he and Jeremy had been walking home from school when they heard Travis say Annette's name. They went to where the voices were coming from and turned the corner just in time to see Travis slap Annette. Roger had to grasp the counter in alarm. When he finished the story, Roger thanked him and hung up. He continued to clutch the counter so hard, his knuckled were beginning to turn white. He felt as he'd never felt before. Someone had laid hands on his baby. He didn't know what to do. He wanted that boy dead. And furthermore, Annette had lied to him. Roger was hurt. He knew his daughter had never lied to her before, and the fact that she now had, while wearing a bruise, scared him all the more. So many thoughts were rushing through his head. Should he hunt Travis down? Should he call the cops? Should he call his wife? He was in shock. Why would anyone want to hurt his daughter? He knew Annette had never done anything to the boy who'd had it in for her since the day he'd met her.

Roger emerged slowly from the kitchen. Annette looked at him to see his face white. In his eyes there was fear. Where had she seen that look of fear so recently? And suddenly Annette knew what the third thing she had seen in Travis was. Through that entire act, he had been scared of something.

"Dad?" Annette asked cautiously. It took a few seconds before Roger could find his voice.

"Why did you lie to me?" He whispered, and she knew she had hurt him.

"Dad, I'm so sorry." She couldn't look him in the eye. She knew she had hurt one of the people she loved the most. She knew she had an ideal, very rare relationship with her father and she was now terrified that she had ruined it with that lie. Tears welled up in her eyes and she concentrated on the floor. "I didn't want to cause you any stress." She muttered almost inaudibly. Roger knew that she had lied to him because she had thought, though she had been wrong, that it was in Roger's best interest. He sat next to her. Their relationship remained in tact.

"You never have to lie to me." Roger said. "I know you did it for me, and I'm not mad. But it's my job to worry about you. And it's your job to let me." He attempted an unsuccessful smile.

"Tell me what happened." He was hoping he would find out more and maybe understand the intentions of the person he now loathed; but his daughter's explanation left him even more confused than Michael's. As the last bit of pain drained from Roger's eyes they were replaced with an angry fire. If he ever came within an inch of Travis McMullen…but his thought was interrupted as the phone rang again. This time it was his cell phone and he answered his wife's call, putting it on speakerphone.

"I'm running a little late." Mimi said. "Go to Mark's, I'll meet you there."

"What are you talking about?" Roger asked confused, all thoughts except his daughter having left his mind.

"It's Friday, Roger!" Mimi said exasperated. "We're supposed to be at Mark's at eight. It's seven-thirty. You're not ready?!" Realization dawned on both Roger and Annette. Annette stood and rushed upstairs, needing to take a shower and get dressed.

"I gotta go!" She heard Roger say to Mimi and he followed her, going into his own room.

Fifteen minutes later, Annette stepped out of the bathroom. She dressed quickly and sat in front of her mirror. She saw the bruise for the first time. It looked much worse than it was. She didn't feel any pain at all. Though Annette never wore any make-up, except for eyeliner, a mother who was a dancer and an interest in theatre had taught her about stage make-up. She was able to cover the bruise, so that it wasn't noticeable. It was seven-fifty.

"Annette, you ready?!" Roger called.

"Yeah!" She called back. She took a final look in the mirror. "The power of make-up." She muttered. She rushed downstairs, found her phone, where it had fallen in between the couch cushions, and went out to the car where Roger was waiting. She got in and Roger took off. She looked down at her phone and was surprised to see thirteen missed calls. One from Morgan, three from Jeremy, three from Michael and six from Lucas. She was confused, wondering why he'd called her so many times, but decided she'd find out soon enough; and she did. The second she'd set foot into the Cohen household, Lucas grabbed her arm and led her into a separate room.

"What's going on?" Annette asked.

"What the hell happened?!" He said, Annette could tell he was struggling to control his temper. "Michael and Jeremy both called me!"

"Oh…"

"Oh?!" Michael asked incredulously.

"You're really making a huge deal out of nothing." Annette said calmly. "It's done, I'm okay."

"No, I'm not making a huge deal!" He said. "I'll be making a huge deal tomorrow when I kill him!" Annette sighed.

"Look." She tried to explain. "My dad knows, and he's going to tell my mom. He'll also tell your Dad and Uncle Collins and my mom will tell Aunt Maureen and Aunt Joanne. Then everyone's going to make a huge deal out of nothing. So just leave it alone."

"How can you say that?" Lucas's voice had softened. "You got jumped, Annette."

"Jumped?" She looked at him confused. "No, I didn't get jumped. Just slapped."

"Annette, if Jeremy and Michael hadn't come along, he would have beaten you up. He tried to jump you." Annette hadn't even thought of this and she didn't want to.

"Morgan's coming and you need to focus on her." She said before leaving the room. Morgan and her family were supposed to arrive at eight-thirty. As she walked into the living room, she was proven right. The conversation immediately died when she emerged. She was barely out the door of the other room when Mimi ran over to her and hugged her. Apparently Roger hadn't wasted any time in telling the entire family. It was like a scene from a movie to Annette. The men, including Lucas, were all wearing a hard glare while the women all looked at her worriedly.

"This is insane." She muttered. "Guys, stop." She said out loud. "It's no big deal, leave it alone." She hadn't grasped how mad her family really was though, because Mark jumped to his feet.

"I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch." He said in a low voice, and Annette knew that if anyone in the family ever saw him, they indeed would. She looked around the room, hoping someone would share her point of view. But Collins's statement shut down that hope.

"You'll have to wait." He growled to Mark. "He's in my second period tomorrow."

"I'm calling the cops." Maureen said. And to Annette's distress, no one objected.

"No, you guys, please!" She pleaded. And at least for the moment, her pleas worked, because the doorbell rang. Lucas went to get the door and walked back into the living room momentarily, leading Morgan and her parents.

"This is Morgan and her family." Lucas introduced.

"I'm Drew; this is my wife, Sherri." Morgan's father introduced. "My son will be right in."

"Excuse me?" A voice said from the foyer.

"Come in." Mark called. A young boy, looking to be Annette's age entered the room. Annette, Collins and Lucas froze.

"This is my son, Travis."

A/N: I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I'm proud of it in some aspects, but I'm worried Annette sounds like a Mary-Sue…and if she does I really don't like that. So please let me know if she does because I'll have to fix that. I wasn't trying to make her be a victim or anything…yeah, that has me pretty worried. Please review and please tell me if Annette is anything like a Mary-Sue. Next, I'm not having writer's block or anything, I know where I'm going with this and I have things planned out (which is more than I can say for some of my other work) but if anyone has any idea, please, let me know.

Thank you for reading. Thank you ashleyjaye, Tina101, Fangirl44, the rent addict BohoRoohaha and Rachel for reviewing. It means a lot to me.

-Ale